For some agro-food companies, a product-positioning strategy based on product origin or a specific
production method has become a viable option in increasingly globalized settings. The adoption of this approach
to create added value for consumer products nevertheless requires balanced consideration of objective productperformance
factors and the subjective judgments of potential consumers. This study sets out to analyze
relationships between origin-based differentiation features of food products and the personal values on which
consumers base their purchase decisions by applying means-end chain methodology through an interviewing
technique known as laddering. The resulting proposal is that food-product positioning or communication
strategies should not be based on attributes alone, but should also consider consumer personality factors. The
study uses the wine market, where many of the products are differentiated by means of origin quality labels, to
measure the relative impact of objective and subjective (or emotional) factors on the purchase decision, taking
consumption frequency into account. The results show that regional sentiment and quality issues dominate the
choice process, while consumption is associated with a sense of belonging and hedonic benefits. Consumers less
interested in DO-labelled wine pay less attention to quality cues and product differentiation factors.
Keywords: Quality of origin labels, purchase decision, personal values, means-end chain, laddering, wine.